The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays

by Esmé Weijun Wang

there is no tabula rasa overlaid by a transparency of hypochondria, generalized anxiety disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder; such thoughts are hardwired into their minds, with no self that can be untangled from the pathology they experience.

there are inevitable parallels between involuntary hospitalization and incarceration. In both circumstances, a confined person’s ability to control their life and their body is dramatically reduced; they are at the mercy of those in control; they must behave in prescribed ways to acquire privileges and eventually, perhaps, to be released.